months even, and i would look for the fed to have common sense to start the play here. >> all right, terry, thanks as always. that's it for the first hour of the "closing bell," where we're having our sixth consecutive 100-point move for the dow jones industrials. a gain of about 135 points today. here's maria and the ceo of duckduckgo. and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to the "closing bell." i'm on the floor of the new york stock exchange. lots of applause at the close. a big rally on wall street ahead of tomorrow's all-important federal reserve announcement, and the dow jones industrials closing out a sixth straight date with 100-point move. how about that? look at how we're settling out on the street today. up for a tuesday. the down industrials up 139 points at 15,318. volume really no great shakes once again. we're not seeing heavy volume numbers. we'll talk to some traders about that momentarily.

the nasdaq up 30 points. we did see some sell and bounces at the close today, so the market did come off of the best levels of the afternoon. but still, call it six. the sixth consecutive triple-digit move for the dow as the index is once again knocking on the door of an all-time high. breaking it down for you is mike santel santelli, amy wu, and allen valdez. good to see everybody, and thank you for joining us. allen, let me start with you. volume here at the big board, unimpressive. you've got to say 588 million shares is not great. what's the problem, and does that bother you in terms of this rally being sustainable? >> well, no, it doesn't bother me it's not sustainable. it does bother me that it's weak. if you take a step back, you look at it, a lot of the guys are on the sideline watching for tomorrow. they want to see what happens tomorrow. don't forget, a triple coming up friday. so a lot of guys are preparing for that on friday. not to mention it's the end of the quarter. >> the expiration. >> yes, the expiration on friday. so the volume -- i would always to see a lot of volume, but i'd

rather see an up day, i don't care what kind of volume. >> all right. you would be buying this market? >> oh, without a doubt. i don't think the fed says anything tomorrow. i think you saw what he said in may, and he won't say anything to disturb the cart right now. >> mike, what's the feeling out there in terms of what we'll hear from the fed tomorrow. >> maybe more of a definition of what the fed interprets as substantial improvement on the job market, maybe focus people in on specific variables and how much time they'll give the economy before it decides to reduce the monthly asset purchases. to me, the market has kind of adjusted its own expectations both for the worse and better, much more than the fed's message has changed. so i feel like it's really a lot of suspension been drained out of this meeting. by the way, the market itself, the treasury yields have calmed down. >> all right. amy, let me ask you in terms of allocating capital. where are you seeing the flow right now in terms of putting money to work? where is the conviction out there? what sector? >> well, hi, maria. from an options perspective, it's pretty interesting, because

i think a lot of folks out there would say the fed's probably not going to say too much tomorrow. it may delay things out later. our own house view is for an october tapering session. however, from the options point of view, you've actually seen short-term term structure come up. so to translate that, that's basically saying near term, more volatility is expected relative to the outer terms. so the options market is actually expecting something for tomorrow, and you're looking at a break-even right now of about plus or minus 1.5%. that's just going into this expiration, so the next two or three days. >> all right. and that expiration, what kind of volatility are you expecting when we do get that triple expiration? >> so when we're looking at this expiration, it's interesting, so that term structure has flattened. it's because of the front month. we're seeing near-term hedges put in place. so even today, we saw some two, three-day trades being put on s&p spreads, that type of move, that type of flow. so people making very, very

short-term bets on what the federal reserve will say tomorrow, and we're not seeing as much of the longer data. >> leo kelly joining us now. leo, good to see you. thanks for joining the conversation. how are you investing right here? >> we're investing cautiously in equity. we're still long-term bulls in equity right now. i think after a run of this s e size, and with the magnitude of the dislocation and pricing, because of the fed's activities and central banks around the world, i think it's a time to have a little bit of caution. we're moving towards alternative, noncorrelated assets, starting to put hedges on, and we're staying away from long-term bonds. they're the safest way to lose money every day. >> what is the cautiousness in terms of equities? how do you allocate capital within the equity world? >> well, i think our approach is not to chase after this market. we still have quite a bit of equity, because we're long-term bullish. i think the challenge right now is after a run of this magnitude, and especially after the last three quarters, do you just keep chasing after this thing? i think investors have to look

back and say, what was the activity i wish i engaged in 2009? you add significant risk at market bottoms, as warren buffett has told us a million times. and back in 2000 or 2007 when markets are running, at least take some risks off the table and start to put hedges on. and that's really where we are. be prudent, be disciplined. >> is that what you're seeing in terms of clients? still chasing stocks? in the chasing mode, or no? >> it is. we're coming up to the end of the half, so a lot of guys are behind. they are starting to chase. they're starting to get involved. we got to the 50-day moving average last week, and it didn't break. now it's running up. i think tomorrow's a big day. if we break above 16, say 50, 1,655, you could see guys coming in. >> the cyclicals have been talked about a lot. the dividend payers have been bought a lot. in terms of the leadership today, do you stay with cyclicals on the dividend payers or is there another group? >> no, the cyclicals, and also

guys in the liquid stocks. like the gentleman just said, they're very cautious of the turns. they can get out real quick. >> right. >> that's what they're looking to do. >> a lot of liquid stocks, mike santelli, that means no conviction. >> yeah, i really do, we went down 3%, 4%, and the level of concern was much more than the magnitude of the decline. that's been the case for a while now. the wall of worry rebuilds itself pretty quickly. that being said, you have to see the industrial global economy give you some kind of excuse to think that the cyclical trade can really take off from here. i think. so we might be a little bit -- you know, looking for greater evidence on that front before the market really responds. >> amy, in terms of the options market, the federal reserve, how important is it for tomorrow's trade? >> sorry, maria. can you repeat the last question? >> how important is what we hear from the fed tomorrow in terms of the options trade? what are you expecting out of the federal reserve meeting tomorrow? >> so for the options market, i think a lot of people, again, think that near term we're going

to see something. you know, my personal view is that i actually differ in that regard. so i actually think that if we are -- our house view is correct of an october move versus something now, then the front month term option is too high. if you believe that's true, you can actually sell that near-term volatility now, and you fund longer-term volatility. so looking at that type of structure, a calendar spread, you're actually funding yourself for a longer data trade, a longer dated hedge, if you believe we'll get that tapering plus tightening out in october through second half 2015 timeframe, as opposed to something in july. >> it's interesting, because there is a debate in terms of what the second half looks like. so, leo, when you're putting money to work, what's your take on the second half? do we see a better economy? or do we see the sequester take some oompf out of the economy in. >> there are two significant issues. number one, earnings have been good, but revenue growth is slowing. economic data is mixed. again, we have some manipulation

in the economic numbers based on moving the fed's balance sheet from 500 billion to 3.4 trillion. i also think we have to be cognizant of the fact that investors still have not gained full confidence. they're still weary, they're still concerned. just take a look at a 10% drop in gold one day, or 8% drop in japan, which followed through to a total of 20% loss, and it shows you the first sign that investors get that things are not as good as expectations, or that there will be any type of pullback in the liquidity run, they'll go running for the hills. i'm not saying run out of equity. we love equity long term. there's too many ways to be -- too many reasons to be bullish on equity. but my point is second half stay disciplined. don't let those equity bounces in your asset allocation run away from you. that's where investors get hurt. >> all right. we will leave it there. good conversation, everybody. thank you so much. we appreciate your time tonight. we have breaking news on earnings. o.b. systems out with earnings,

on the bottom of the screen. josh lipton with the background on the numbers. >> reporter: the numbers just out. let me bring you up to speed. on the top line, reports 1.1 billion, in line with what the street was looking for. a beat by 3 cents. the company talking about the leadership position in digital media and marketing. the stock up nearly 4% in the after hours. maria, back to you. >> all right, josh, thank you so much. the stocks gained ground for the third time in the last four trading sessions with the dow on six-day streak of 100-point moves. bob is in the middle of the action, as usual. >> reporter: if there's worry about what mr. bernanke was going to say, they're not showing it. volume on the light side. the dow, we did climb nicely, came off of the highs into the close. at the peak, maria, and really right now, we're 90 points from an historic high closing, on the dow jones industrials. so the markets have been advancing. a couple of big stocks, ge,

former parent, 4 1/2-year high, impressing, and boeing great orders, news for the company, 102 orders of the 787. that's a new 52-week high for boeing as well. look at the sectors to move up. boeing helping the defense group. that's been strong recently. semiconductors the market leader, they're back, as is healthcare. the hmos have been strong. the philadelphia housing index ended on the upside, but down on some disappointment on the housing starts number this morning. there's been a lot of turmoil around the world, as you know, maria. and a lot of demonstrations everywhere. turkey, continuing demonstrations. brazil's had demonstrations over bus fares. indonesia had demonstrations over rising gasoline prices. there have been demonstrations in egypt, as well. you can see this turmoil. the markets mixed today on all of the reports. elsewhere, treasuries in the red. another major sector down. gold, maria, consumer price indexes, below expectations, that will give the fed room if they want to keep on with qe-3 since inflation appears under control.

back to you. >> all right, bob, thank you so much. what impact will the fev's decision tomorrow have on the markets? whatever it will be, it will likely be big. after the break, we'll bring in the experts to find out what to expect tomorrow. then, in an unlevelled playing field, it scares the average investor out of the market, right? there is a new tool to help everyday investors trade like the pros for a cost. but should they pay up for it? we'll tell you about it later on "closing bell." stay with us. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪

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welcome back. what message is ben bernanke communicating to the market? steve liesman breaking down the latest fed survey results to give us an eye into that. over to you. >> reporter: it's a message of a taper sooner than they had previously expected. let's look at the timeline from our survey of 60 economists and wall street strategists. in the april survey, tapering was supposed to start in february 2014. now, you can see that's moved down a little earlier, december 2013, is the latest average of expectations here. how about stopping qe altogether? that's still in july, as it was in april. right now, the same thing. how about when they might hike the funds rate? have to come down here. hiking the fed's funds rate is an issue for the second quarter of 2015. just take the wide view, you can see there's a big gap here, though the gap between when they

start tapering and stopping qe right now a little wider. i want to show you one other way to think about it. that was the average response. i want to show you the top response in our april survey, was march 2014. that's come all the way back now to september 2013. and 24% of our respondents are focused on that date. so we'll look for any hint on whether that's accurate. and how about the qe. they've dialled that back from 936 billion in the april survey, now 880 billion expected in 2013. that's -- i found this interesting. 370 still expected for 2014, despite -- saying in december 2013 it will be just 1,654 for the s&p and 1,722, about 4.5% higher than it is today, this time next year. bond yields are interesting, also.

2.40 by the end of this year, and where were we, 2.20 is where we closed. 2.80 by june 2014 with a pretty stable federal reserve. so they're thinking this will creep up a little bit. maria, their views on growth, pretty much where they were. 2.1, and this year 2.6 next year. back to you. >> in terms of inflation, steve, that's one of the fed's markers. >> reporter: yeah. >> where are we in terms of inflation, steve? >> reporter: it's interesting that you asked that question. we asked that question to three different -- three different ways, and not a lot of concern about either inflation or deflation for this group right now. they think it's something the fed is watching, but not at a level right now that would prompt the fed to act. >> all right. good stuff. steve, stay right here, because the debate continues. when will the tapering begin? what impact can we expect on the market and the economy as a result of the tapering? joining me along with steve is david jones, former economist with the fed bank of new york and now ceo of dmj advisers, plus our own rick santelli.

david, good to see you again. what's your take on the fed tomorrow? >> i think we're going to have a strong hint, if not an actual announcement, that that tapering will begin probably around the time, in that september meeting that steve talked about. that looks like the right timing. remember, we got a really strong hint of this from chairman bernanke back in his jec testimony on may 22nd. he's had labor market conditions continue to improve -- and i am convinced they will improve on a sustained basis -- sometime in the next two or three meetings, which would be pretty close to that september date, we'll start tapering. so i think we'll get a decent hint in that direction, if not an outright statement. >> would rates and the level of the 10-year, david, be a catalyst for the fed? or do you think they stick to those two targets -- unemployment and inflation -- in terms of deciding when the tapering begins? >> that's an excellent question.

and my view is that virtually all of the story is on improvement in employment conditions and labor market conditions. and i think the today chairman is looking at two things. the monthly increase in nonfarm payroll employment, which is held up well. what was it, 175,000, something in that range, the last time around. it's held better than it has in earlier years. and that unemployment rate -- >> hey, hey, david -- david -- >> -- which is coming down -- yes? >> david, put this into your hopper here. because our survey suggests that the majority of economists think the participation rate will go up, okay? what does the federal reserve do in a scenario of 200,000 jobs -- which is not crazy, because it's what we've been doing -- but a rising unemployment rate prompted by people coming back into the workforce? is that cause for celebration and tapering at the fed? or is it cause for caution and watching the scenario? >> well, my strong opinion here is that the fed is going to

adjust for that labor force participation rate. if it starts to go up and purchasing and unemployment rate, the fed will tend to ignore the unemployment rate in that month or two, as long as the trend is coming down, as the fed hopes for. the key, therefore, i think, if you want to watch one number, is that monthly increase in nonfarm payroll employment. if we're in the range of 200,000 and we're there for six months -- remember, in 2010, 2011, 2012, we had a few months of strong gains and then weakness. bernanke did not want that again, and the good news is he has not seen that again. so if you want to watch one number, watch those monthly nonfarm payroll numbers. and if we're near 200,000, we're going to get that tapers in september. >> so just to close the loop on that, you do not think the fed is necessarily looking at the 10-year having moved up and saying this could be one of the catalysts to begin the tapering? >> well, what the fed is looking at the 10-year on, and it's a very important point, maria,

they're looking at it to prove that the markets have begun to think about a tapering as soon as bernanke mentioned it on may 22nd. we've seen -- >> the markets are doing his work? >> the market has been doing its work, and, therefore, the market will not be as volatile as it otherwise would have been if it was paying no attention. and suddenly, it was shocked by bernanke's statements. so i think the 10-year is doing exactly what the fed would like to see it doing, already beginning to anticipate that process of tapering. and maybe in september we'll see a 20 billion cut in that 85 billion a month in bond purchases, down to, let's say, 65 billion. so it will be significant. >> right. but at that point, we've already seen rates move up a bit, so maybe it's not as volatile a reaction? or we'll still get a volatile reaction from stocks and rates when, in fact, they officially say, yeah, we're not going to go 85 billion in bonds anymore, we'll go to 65 billion? >> i think rates have already done, as you're alluding to, maria, the adjustment.

>> the work. >> i think the fed is happy with that. the stock market is a different story. it may be a bit out over its skis, and maybe hit somewhat harder because the momentum has been so much stronger there. but the reality here is that that tapering is coming, and i think bernanke's going to hint at it tomorrow. >> understood. rick santelli, what's the talk among the traders at the cme, and what's your take on what we're talking about here with the 10-year? >> i think most traders are a bit confused, to be quite frank. i don't think they believe the strategy is a highly detailed strategy, where there's bulletpoints. i think they think it's more of an idea of a strategy. one of the many comments i hear from traders is, well, if he miscommunicated on the 22nd in front of the joint economic committee, but he ended up seeing interest rates move up and stocks within strikes distance of an all-time closing high, why doesn't he just go with it, because obviously that isn't necessarily a bad outcome for questionable programs.

you have two ex-fed officials in the form of greenspan and vulker expressing concerns, and one in epstein this week, and taking it a step farther, i like the preoccupation we have in two areas. the labor force participation rate -- i think he will try to justify the economy dictating the speed on the quote/unquote taper. but where was that justification before the election, for example? where a big drop in the unemployment rate was never challenged is being driven by the labor force participation rate. that wasn't there. and on the other side of the equation, if i have a frog leg and i'm the scientist putting the battery on it and it move, i'm not going to go out and buy it dancing shoes. it's hard to tell if 10-year note rates are going up because of ben bernanke and the charges he puts in the market via the purchase programs. >> all right. great conversation, everybody. appreciate your time. we appreciate it. we'll see you soon. we'll be watching the

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> welcome back. automated trading has always been the trading of the elite. now, some of the same technology is coming to main street usa. bob pisani joins us with that story. bob? >> reporter: the firm we're talking about is equal metrics, and they plan to begin offering automated trading to the masses. they have an app with software powered from the crowd, so do it with a simple laptop. this is not high-frequency trading or trading in miliseconds. they're just using electronic trading program to buy and sell stocks. can you grab and drop various indicators to create your own strategies. for example, set a program to buy google when it crosses the 50-day moving average, for one example. the good news here, you can back-test the strategy and see if it is working in the past and how many times it's worked. price seems fairly reasonable to me. $99 or $250 a month, depending

on the number of algorithms you're planning to use. the company isn't a broker, so they'll use interactive broker, so they'll use fxem to execute the trades. this kind of off-the-shelf algorithms have been around for years, though they've usually been more expensive. that's the breakthrough here. everyone else has them, as well. it's really only as good as your own stock-picking instincts are. as you know, maria, there is no magic formula for making money in stocks. >> all right, bob, thank you so much. the fact that something is being offered to retail investors tells you how much things have changed on wall street. with retail investors still largely on the sideline despite the rally, is it because things are too complicated? joining me now is personal responsibility expert larry winget, along with carol roth and our own harold greenberg. larry, you have a regular radio show and speak with regular folks all the time. are they turned off from the stock market, even though it's doing so well? >> i'm not sure they're turned

off. i don't think there's a lot of trust right now in the market or big corporations or government or banks, so that might be why they're laying back. i'm not in favor of this deal for the average guy, because it makes you a do it yourself investor. when it comes to your money, surgery, electricity, you should turn it over to the professionals. >> really? there's so much information out there. why does a professional have an ability to manage a person's money when you have the tools to do it yourself? and you have all of the discount brokerages out there. >> you know, you have a home depot, but you wouldn't go down there if you didn't have a clue about how to do it and wire your house for electricity either. just because the tools are there, doesn't mean you need to get in that business, especially when you're risking all the money that you've got, maybe in your financial future, to do it. >> well, i guess there's an education -- there's an education component to this as well. i mean, if you are educated in terms of what is driving your money, then perhaps you're in a better position to do so and pay

a lower fee than you would have to pay if you leave everything to somebody else. carol roth, what's your thought on this? >> i think that this is a disaster in big red, neon letters waiting to happen. the best way for you to invest over the long term as a retail investor is invest in what you know and what you understand. when you start putting in something like an algorithm, you probably don't understand it. i'm a big fan of the warren buffett method of investing, and you know what, warren buffett doesn't need, maria, he doesn't need an algorithm. so i think this is going to make people become lazy. they're going to go from delegating control and responsibility to abdicating control and responsibility, and that could have a significant effect on your wealth. >> yeah, i think it's an important point. these things are complicated. herb greenberg, where are you on this? >> first of all, the algorithmic trading, i think what they're trying to do is bring it down -- bring it home to day traders, people like that, sophisticated

investors. that's a whole different marketplace than what we're really talking to. i think what you have in the markets right now -- and i a piece on cnbc.com right now, saying don't get fooled by the stock prices. you know, every day you're sitting there and watching the stock screen and watching the social media feed. there's so much going on. it can confuse you. plus, now you have a market where stocks are going up, say, 10%, 12%, 20% in a single hour? so i think for the individual, it's that much more difficult. i think what carol said is absolutely correct. you know, try to understand what you're doing, and i think what larry said -- larry, quite frankly, you know, you gotta then go out and find the right broker. you have to find the right adviser. it's not as simple as letting somebody else do it. >> right. i agree with that. >> i totally agree with you, herb. you have to find somebody who understands you, your desires, dreams, your hope, your future, and all that stuff. you have to be matched with the right person when it comes to investing your money. >> right.

i think what herb is saying is we're breaking -- this is two different groups. you have individual investors is the umbrella, but you have one group that's a day trading group, very savvy, and you have another group, i think the group you were talking about, who really do not have a sense of what drives their money. >> but, maria -- >> exactly. >> -- fair to say that the day trading group, although they are thought to be savvy, if you look at the returns over time, the people who do the buy-and-hold strategies often outperform the people who are churning their portfolios. so i really think that this is almost a gateway drug to try and get people to do more of that active trading, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to produce the best kinds of returns. >> yeah, i think that's a good point. carol, you say this is a huge disaster in big red letters. but let me ask you this. who's to say what the individual or the retail investor knows or doesn't know? i mean, why do you say that this information can only be -- should only be given to a certain group in the market? shouldn't we allow all tools to

be available to all the players out there and not decide, you should be deciding, you can see this, you can't see this, because it's a disaster for you but it's not a disaster for him. who are you to say that? >> i'm certainly not anybody to say that. make it available, but don't use it if you don't understand it. and that becomes the issue. especially with technology. you cannot understand every single scenario that's going to make an algorithm kick in and execute a trade. we've seen this happen before, maria, where there's a big flash crash or we have something that happens that you haven't anticipated, and if you're an individual investor and that happens to you, you may not have that ability to recover like a private institution, and in some cases, they haven't recovered in the big, private institutions either. so for me, stay away. if you don't understand it, stay away from it. that's what warren buffett would advise you to do, and that's what i advise you to do. >> buyer beware, yes, i would agree with that. >> maria, i do think everybody ought to have it available to them. it's just about -- just because

it's available, doesn't mean we should be encouraging people to go out and spend 100 bucks a month or 250 bucks a month and think they can do this on their own. >> yes. >> they have to be educated. >> double and triple caps are available to everybody, too, and the inverse etfs, and we see how they can be abused in the wrong hands. options are available to everybody, and some people, if they have taken the time to understand them, actually as an individual, can go out and use them to prevent risks in their portfolio. so it's really a question of people taking the time. and i think that's what's happened in this market. i think a lot of people don't feel this level playing field anymore, because, you know, they come home from work. they see what's happened. they say, what happened from yesterday? and i think that is something that has changed dramatically, though i do think the individual investor -- i do think there's a place for them in the marketplace. >> all right, guy, great conversation. appreciate your time. thank you very much. we'll see you soon. as we learned today, the nsa's controversial surveillance program thwarted a plot to blow up the new york stock exchange.

amazing developments here. some still do not want their iphone calls or internet movements recorded by the government. enter search engine duckduckgo. while the likes of google and yahoo! have been turning over information to the nsa, duckduckgo says it can't, and it wouldn't even if they wanted it to. and check out my google plus hangout with the founder of rent the runway. we'll talk about how technology is changing the fashion business, tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern on google plus. back in a moment.

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welcome back. duckduckgo bills itself as a search engine alternative 20 google. back in april, we had the ceo on this program, and we wanted to know how a small company could compete with the google goliath. he told us it's because they do not track your searches or target you with advertising, and because of that, the company has benefited since the nsa leak alerted americans that the government was, in fact, collecting that data. since the nsa news broke two weeks ago, duckduckgo web traffic has surged 33%. the ceo gabe weinberg is back with us now. let's talk more about it. good to see you, gabe. >> thanks for having me back. >> this is really interesting. did you anticipate that you

would see a traffic increase as a result of your competitors giving information to the government? >> you know, we always knew people didn't want to be trac d tracked, but what hadn't happened was reporting on the private alternatives. and so, it's no surprise that people are making a choice to switch to things, they can still get great results and also real privacy. >> so, you know, this is fascinating, because i guess many of the social media companies came out with the information in terms of how many government inquiries they have received. and, obviously, they have given this information to the nsa and to the government. in a six-month period, yahoo! said that they had 12,000 to 13,000 inquiries from the government. apple, 4,000 to 5,000 inquiries. did you not have any inquiries? >> we have zero inquiries, and the reason for that is we don't store any data. so if they come to us, and they know, it's in our privacy policy, we have nothing to hand over. it's all anonymous data. >> what are they handing over? >> so it's unclear, because some

of the requests aren't known. you know, the details. but when you do a search on any of these sites or you visit your profile, say, on facebook or anything you do on apple, all of the data is stored. so with a valid warrant, that can all be handed over. you know, e-mail inboxes, all of your searches, all of that kind of stuff. >> and where does that information go? i mean, if you're trafficking user information, you know, e-mail, you know, data, a footprint is being created about you, right? >> right. so on big-tech companies and usually big companies in general, that information is stored in data warehouses and that's why it can be requested. with duckduckgo, we literally throw that information away. it never gets written into anywhere. never to disk. >> so how do you make money? a lot of these companies, they're saving the data because they want to get advertising around that data. how is duckduckgo making money? and how do you envision making money, i should say? >> we make money now, the beauty of web search, you don't need to track your users to make money on web search, because it's

based off the key word. you do mortgage research for your house. you type in mortgage bank rates and get a mortgage ad. we can do that without tracking. we have an ad on our site based on the keyword, not the person. >> the traffic, do you think, it's directly responsible, the increase in traffic, to the fact that you're not tracking user information since all of this broke? >> to put it in perspective, it took us 435 days to get from one to 2 million searches a day, and then only eight days, the last eight days, to get from 2 million to 3 million. >> wow. are these new customers? >> yeah. i think it's a lot of word of mouth. shows like this are certainly helping. i think people are out there having conversations with their friends and family and saying, "hey, we don't want to be tracked. no one wants to be tracked. why don't you try duckduckgo?" >> you know, google is out there saying, look, we anonimize the information, after two years, so

we don't really know who it is. can they resist the government inquiries and say, look, we have to be loyal to our customer base and not give information out when we don't know really where it's going? >> to their credit, i think that they do resist as much as they can. but at the end of the day, if you have a valid court order, you have to do what it says. >> right. all right, gabe. good to have you on the program. >> thanks. >> we'll be following your story. we appreciate you joining us. duckduckgo ceo and founder joinings, gain weinberg. after lagging in may, mergers and acquisitions on the verge of taking off? i'll be talking about m&a and the merging markets. stay with us as we prepare for tomorrow's open. stay with us. ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪

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welcome back. if you believe stocks are a leading indicator, judged by the move fbr stock, it looks like it might take off. shares are up 55% so far this year. the stock is up better 120% in the last year. good news for a firm that provides investment banking and advises on m&a. i'm joined by fbr's ceo. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> with rates at rock-bottom levels and, you know, where we are in terms of this environment with the fed and rates so low, i would have expected a lot more deal flow this year than we've actually seen. what gives?

>> well, as you point out, we would have all expected more m&a activity. in fact, this is the% time for many decades where m&a activity hasn't tracked a big move in the market. i think a big reason for that is there is not as much top-line growth as there is historically in a recovery. a lot of the earnings growth that has been showing up in company reports has been from cost cutting. so if you're going to make an acquisition, you don't have a lot of wind at your back in terms of top line. you need to know that you're going to be able to an expense . it's easier to have the expense perspective from inside your company. >> so how would you characterize the environment now in terms of m&a? >> i would say there are a lot of people having conversations and thinking about what is around the corner. but there's still, you know, like there is with individual investors, there's sort of a low tolerance for risk on the part of ceos. and i don't feel like right

around the corner there's going to be a big wave of m&a. i think you're going to see deals that make a lot of sense strategically and maybe fill a business line hole or an asset hole for a particular company. but we do not expect a big wave of m&a that's driven by the expectation of top-line growth around the corner. >> it's interesting. so it really is just as much a confidence issue as it is a rate issue. i spoke with the ceo of ubs this month, and i asked him about the deal flow activity. listen to what he had to say. i'd like to get your opinion on it. what are you seeing in the investment bank? i would have expected a lot more deal flow m&a activity given the level of interest rates, but we're not seeing that. >> right. that's very surprising. very surprising. >> do you expect that to pick up? >> i think that as time goes by, i have to say if and when rates goes up, then it would take away that optionality. >> what do you think? do you think we'll see more activity when rates move up a bit? >> we may.

rates moving up is going to put a lot of pressure on investors. it's going to put a lot of pressure on financial companies in particular. and that may cause action on the part of some firms that have been sitting on the sidelines. but in reality, i think everybody has an expectation about rates already. and if we were going to see a big up tick in activity, i think you'd be starting to see it today. and so, we, again, don't think that there is this big wave coming around the corner. now, as we get deeper and deeper into the cycle and in we start to see 3% and 4% growth in the u.s. economy, i think that may trigger more activity. but if anything, i think higher rates may slow growth in the u.s., and that would lead us back to, i think, where we've been, which is sort of below average or below expectation average from an m&a perspective. >> so who are the acquirers? are these strategics?

corporates? are these private equity firms? who's doing the most activity? >> well, where we've been engaged and where we're involved today are more with strategics. as i said, there's certain cases where a company's looking to fill a business line or identify and add a particular asset, particular for a natural resources-type company, and those are all strategic acquirers, and that's where you're going to see the best outcomes from an acquisition perspective. there's a lot of money on the sidelines within private equity firms. but it's difficult to see how you go a lot further from an expense perspective with a lot of today's existing public companies. so, you know, big go private transactions, while there's capital available from the banks to make them happen, i think they're harder to see how you get to the returns of private equity typically looks for today than they have been in quite sometime. >> and they're sitting on that cash because of uncertainties, right? do you see them putting that

money to work? >> well, ultimately, they will put the money to work. but again, i think you're going -- you're going to have to see a different valuation environment and a different growth environment before -- before private equity firms are going to get much more aggressive. the opportunity set that was out there, and that drew a lot of private equity capital over the past three or four years, was around distress and around valuations that were depressed. and that situation has corrected itself significantly, and so, the opportunity set is very different today than it was three, four years ago. >> interesting stuff. rich hendrix, thank you so much. >> thanks for having us. >> we appreciate it. new developments on the so-called marijuana mom. andrea day with the story. >> reporter: she's the suv driving mom from scarsdale, new york, who, as you remember, was busted last month. well now, andrea has been indicted for manufacturing and possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute it. now, authorities say she was

running a major warehouse in queens just filled with state-of-the-art lighting, irrigation, electrical, and ventilation systems. the dea found thousands of pot plants worth found thousands o plants worth more than 3 mondays. also she paid more than 9,000 a month in electrical bills. that was a big red flag. authorities had this to say about her operation. there's really no difference whether you're a sburen mom or a cartel member making cocaine in the jungles of columbia. sander lynn and her kids lived in the house that reportedly rented out for a whopping $13,000 a month. back to you maria. >> amazing. right out of that show weeds. stay with us. sparkly water and pure white sand

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>> welcome back. big day for the markets today. tomorrow is all about what ben bernanke and company says. with 30 seconds on the clock our

guests will tell us what we should be watching for. robert small and chris ferran. robert you're up first. >> for the corporate bond market like everyone else we're looking at the fed statement. the we've seen new issue spreads while street dealers are heavier than they have been in the past. $6 billion net money coming out of korpts, while leverage loans have seen the only inflows. tomorrow we'll be looking at the fed statement and the impact on the corporate bond market overall. >> christopher you're up. 30 seconds. >> our investment committee is talking a lot about interest rates. we're concerned about the neg impact this can have. we are going to be watching the fed meeting tomorrow as well as

a weekly jobless claims reports. we're hopeful that the fed is going to have a thoughtful and a controlled way to increase interest rates and to go into tapering. we have been reducing the bond duration on the fixed income side of our client portfolios. >> do you think they suggest that the tapering begin? >> we might head that direction kind of like the survey that came out earlier today. we think it might start sooner than indicated in the past. >> up next the man, the entire market is waiting on. my observation on that next. stay with us. ealize tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that i haven't even looked away from my screen. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 ♪ tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that kind of focus... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that's what i have when i trade. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 ♪ tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform tdd# 1-800-345-2550 from charles schwab helps me keep an eye tdd# 1-800-345-2550 on what's really important to me. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's packed with tools that help me work my strategies, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 spot patterns and find opportunities more easily. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then, when i'm ready... act decisively.

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>> finally today my observation on what to expect from the federal reserve tomorrow. we know how critical this meeting will be given the recent volatility and nervesness in the market which is the scaling back of the stimulus by buying $85 billion in bonds every month the fed said it has in mind certain economic markers that will dictate when it begins that tapering down. the first of course the unemployment rate. it would have to see a rate of 6.5% to take the foot off the pedal. currently the unemployment is

7.6%. the second marker inflation. it's looking for two and a half% percent. we have an economy growing at 2%. what if anything has changed. not month in terms of the feds markers but the markets are anticipating that the tapering will begin before the markers are close to hit. the ten year yield is above ten percent. there seems to be a risk of that happening. even though it has been a slight move above two percent. maybe all of this volatility and nervesness is what the fed wants. i would not expect any changes to the language tomorrow in terms of when the tapering begins. ben bernanke does not need to do anything but reiterate what he has said.

the fed has created nervesness, uncertainty. i still do not believe the two percent in the ten year sends money out of stocks and into bods especially as we see evidence of investors taking money out of bond funds. you'll see ben bernanke live tomorrow. we'll be here to break it all down for you. that will do it for tonight. thanks for being with me. i'll see you tomorrow. here's fast money right now. >> live from the nasdaq markets in new york city i'm melissa lee with your traders today. let's get straight to the big story. in bernanke we trust. stocks rallying inic